Ouch! Negative Business Reviews on Google Places Got You Down?

Sept. 19, 2010 - PRLog -- "The worst service ever."  "Don't buy from these crooks!" "The new owners have ruined a great business."  Negative reviews on Google Places can be heart stopping for a local business owner trying to increase sales through this local search engine.  And there is no doubt that consumers are reading and heeding what they find in the review sections of Google Places.  Follows some basic need-to-know info on negative reviews.

   1.   Monitor your listings.  You need to be aware of what is happening on these listings.  You can't respond to what you don't know exists.
   2.   Have a strategy for reviews.  You should be actively courting your customers to add good reviews.  
   3.   Google Places scrapes reviews from other business review sites.  When you get a negative review, follow it to the source.
   4.   Respond when possible.  Google Places now allows responses.  Be gracious in your response.  Offer to make good when possible.
   5.   Ignore flamers.  Some reviews are obviously from competitors or others that have a bigger axe to grind.  Consumers can tell.  Ignore them or be very careful in responding.  Don't egg them on.
   6.   Don't create your own reviews.  They are also obvious to consumers and may be disallowed by some listing sites.
   7.   A few negative reviews are not likely to destroy your business IF there are five or six positive reviews for each negative.

Reviews are critical to getting good ranking on Google Places, and they will be even more important in the future.  You can find tools available online to help you with your effort to get more reviews.  One such tool is called ShoutDog.com.  Through the use of easy-to-use links, ShoutDog provides a better way to ask for and get reviews from your best clients and customers.

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